The Contradictions of "Real Socialism": The Conductor and the Conducted

226 Pages·2012·5.229 MB·English

by  Michael Lebowitz

"The profound understanding in this new book of why twentieth-century attempts
at constructing socialism failed must be an essential element in the socialist
renewal emerging amid the first great capitalist crisis of the twenty-first century."
-Leo Panitch, editor, Socialist Register
THE
CONTRADICTIONS
O F
R E A L S O C I A L I S M
THE CONDUCTOR AND THE CONDUCTED
MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ
PB2563 / $15.95 Marxism / Political Theory
"A riveting exploration of what can be learned from the first O
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attempts to create socialist systems, specifically the period
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from 1950 through the 1980s. Reguired reading."-Fred
Magdoff,
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professor emeritus, University of Vermont
"One doesn't have to agree with all the theses presented in >
Michael Lebowitz's latest book in order to acknowledge that o
this is a major contribution to the international debate on
socialism of the twenty-first century.’'-Michaei
Lowy, co-author, Che
Guevara: His Revolutionary Legacy (with Olivier Besancenot)
"What would Marx have thought had he lived to see the Soviet
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Union? Nobody has interpreted Marx to greater advantage to
answer this guestion than renowned Marxist scholar Michael o
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Lebowitz, who explains why Marx would not have been JJ
pleased!''-Robin Hahnel, professor of economics, Portland State University m
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"We need this well-written book to understand that socialism did r-
not die with the fall of the Berlin
Wall."-Fran$ois Houtart, Executive
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Secretary of the World Forum for Alternatives
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“Where fresh insights are rare, indeed, Michael Lebowitz o
provides a bundle of them. Although no one will (or perhaps
should) agree with everything here, the book provides rich
material for badly-needed discussion."-Paui
Buhie, author, Marxism
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in the United States 2
Michael A. Lebowitz is professor emeritus of economics at Simon
Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and author of The Socialist
Alternative, Beyond Capital: Marx's Political Economy of the Working o
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Class (winner of the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize for 2004), Build It >
Now: Socialism for the Twenty-First Century, and Following Marx: Method,
Critique and Crisis. He was Director, Program in Transformative Practice and
Human Development, Centro Internacional Miranda, in Caracas, Venezuela,
from 2006 to 2011.
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ISBN-13: 978-1-58367-256-3
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cover design: Ben Smyth, Grand Opening 9 78158 3 672563 •review
PRESS

Praise for The Contradictions of‘Real Socialism’
“The owl of Minerva only flies at dusk”—it was Hegel’s old maxim that seemed
confirmed when in 1991 the Socialist Register published Michael Lebowitz’s article
on the nature of “real socialism” amid its very demise. This new book takes off from
there, but its wings are buoyed by Lebowitz’s work since then, from Beyond Capital
to The Socialist Alternative. The profound understanding in this new book of why
twentieth-century attempts at constructing socialism failed must be an essential ele­
ment in the socialist renewal emerging amid the first great capitalist crisis of the
twenty-first century. It thus appears that the old wise owl also flies at dawn.
—Leo Panitch, editor, Socialist Register
If we want socialism for the twenty-first century, we need to understand why the
“real” socialisms of the last century so often ended in capitalism. In this book,
Lebowitz shows, theoretically and historically, that the socialism practiced in the
Soviet Union and Central Europe was doomed because vanguard relations of pro­
duction weakened the working class, ensuring that it would have no primary role
in the battle ultimately won by the logic of capital (represented by managers) over
the logic of the vanguard (represented by the party). We must, he concludes, reject
vanguard Marxism and embrace a Marxist vision of socialism in which, from the
beginning, the full development of human capacities is actively promoted. There
is a lot to learn here.
—Martin Hart-Landsberg, professor of economics,
Lewis and Clark College
One doesn’t have to agree with all the theses presented in Michael Lebowitz’s latest
book in order to acknowledge that this is a major contribution to the international
debate on socialism of the twenty-first century. Drawing lessons from the dramatic
failure of so-called “real socialism,” he argues, with powerful and persuasive logic,
that a new society, based on values of solidarity and community, cannot be created
by a state standing over and above civil society: only through autonomous organiza­
tions—at the neighborhood, community, and national levels—can people transform
both circumstances and themselves.
—Michael Lowy, co-author, Che Guevara: His Revolutionary Legacy
(with Olivier Besancenot)
What would Marx have thought had he lived to see the Soviet Union? Nobody
has interpreted Marx to greater advantage to answer this question than renowned
Marxist scholar Michael Lebowitz, who explains in The Contradictions of ‘Real
Socialism’ why Marx would not have been pleased!
—Robin Hahnel, professor of economics, Portland State University
We need this well-written book to understand that socialism did not die with the fall
of the Berlin Wall.
—Francois H outart, Executive Secretary of
the World Forum for Alternatives
Where fresh insights are rare, indeed, Michael Lebowitz provides a bundle of them.
Although no one will (or perhaps should) agree with everything here, the book pro­
vides rich material for badly-needed discussion.
—Paul Buhle, author, Marxism in the United States
A riveting exploration of what can be learned from the first attempts to create
socialist systems, specifically the period from 1950 through the 1980s. Lebowitz
convincingly demonstrates that the distortions of the model developed in the Soviet
Union and copied in eastern European countries (“real socialism”) were caused by
setting in motion two contradictory forces—ending up with the worst aspects of
both capital and leadership and control by a “vanguard.” He examines the develop­
ment of “real socialism” as a complex system, with the various parts explained and
scrutinized in their interactions and interrelations as part of the system. Required
reading for those interested in avoiding diversions and pitfalls in a post capitalist
alternative—on the path to creating a system under social, instead of private, control
in which the goal is meeting everyone’s basic needs and encouraging and allowing
the full human development of all.
—Fred Magdoff, professor emeritus of plant and soil science,
University of Vermont
The Contradictions of
“Real Socialism”
The Conductor and the Conducted
by MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ
m
MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS
New York
Copyright © 2012 by Michael Lebowitz
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lebowitz, Michael A.
The contradictions of real socialism : the conductor and the conducted /
by Michael A. Lebowitz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-58367-256-3 (pbk.: alk. paper) - ISBN 978-1-58367-257-0
(cloth : alk. paper) 1. Communism. 2. Socialism. I. Title.
HX73.L4163 2012
335—dc23
2012019992
Monthly Review Press
146 West 29th Street, Suite 6W
New York, New York 10001
www.monthlyreview.org
5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface.......................................................................................................... 7
Introduction: New Wings for Socialism................................................. 11
Overture: The Conductor and the Conducted.................................... 21
1. The Shortage Economy................................................................ 29
2. The Social Contract......................................................................49
3. The Nature and Reproduction
of Vanguard Relations of Production.......................................... 67
4. Contested Reproduction within “Real Socialism”................... 89
5. The Conductor and the Battle of Ideas
in the Soviet Union......................................................................107
6. From Moral Economy to Political Economy............................131
7. Toward a Society of Associated Conductors............................153
8. Good-bye to Vanguard Marxism...............................................173
Bibliography............................................................................................189
Notes..........................................................................................................195
Index..........................................................................................................217
For friends in Cuba, Venezuela,
and everywhere people are struggling to build a new world.
Hasta la victoria siempre!
Preface
This is not a book for those who already know everything important
there is to know about “Real Socialism.” For those fortunate souls who
have inherited or adopted the eternal verities of particular political sects
on the left, empirical footnotes that strengthen their claim to leadership
are the principal tasks of scholarship. As a result, the central question
about this book for them is likely to be, “Is he with us or against us?” In
short, is this book good for the chosen?
I presume, however, readers who begin with questions rather than
answers. What was this phenomenon known as “Real Socialism,” or
“Actually Existing Socialism,” a concept created in the twentieth century
by the leaders of countries in order to distinguish their real experience
from merely theoretical socialist ideas? What were its characteristics?
How was this system reproduced? And why did it ultimately yield to
capitalism without resistance from the working classes who were pre­
sumably its beneficiaries?
I didn’t plan to write this book. My original idea was to include a few
chapters on “Real Socialism” in my book The Socialist Alternative: Real
Human Development, published by Monthly Review Press in 2010. The
point I wanted to make is that the socialist alternative is an alternative not
only to capitalism but also to “Real Socialism.” However, after drafting a
few chapters based in particular on the experience of the Soviet Union